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Enormous Hailstone Breaks Record (Photo)

Aurora, Neb., has been knocked out of the record book. Seven years ago, a hailstone fell in that town that was verified as being the largest ever recorded in the U.S. It was 7 inches in diameter, but the government has now confirmed that the hailstone that fell last week in Vivian, S.D. was even bigger. It was 8 inches in diameter, and 18 1/2 inches around. The Vivian resident who found it put it in his freezer, but the power had been knocked out, so it may have actually been bigger when it fell. They say the updraft in that thunderstorm required to suspend a chunk of ice that large was probably in excess of 110 miles an hour.